What inspires us to get off the sofa and hang upside down on a bit of metal? Who do we look up to and what do we aspire to achieve? This week we have asked the girls to tell us about where they find the inspiration for their routines, whether it be music, people, movies, lobsters, theatre, instagram, nature... Wherever the flash of pole genius may come from!

Sophie

My inspiration for hoop and pole comes from movies that I watch and well known cheesy songs, but my hoop and pole inspirations are Bendy Kate, Daniel Rosen and Amy Hazel and I aspire to be as flexi and bendy as them in the future. But for now, I watch hours of hoop and pole combos to gain ideas for my routine and interpret them into my own. I also google hoop moves in general, and find moves that I aspire to be able to do, and if successful, then great! If not, I find other moves or something similar that I can do whilst working on my targets.

Lauren

Inspirations for my routines, new moves and combos and general things relating to aerial comes from a variety of different things. I like to try and make things my own and create different moves or combos. If I see something I like on Facebook or Instagram I look and see a) can I do it and b) how can I make it my own. The pole and hoop world is filled with so many strong, flexible and innovative individuals there's always new moves, combos and routines being created. I remember watching the other performers at the first pole competition I did and thinking how effortless they made it look and thinking if I put the effort in that could be meWatching the flare, stage presents and sheer confidence of Felix Cane was what pushed me to try Back in Black by AC/DC on pole and after workshops with Bendy Kate and Amy Hazel trying to create new flexi shapes in hoop, on pole and in floor work spurred me on to make sure I continue to stretch whilst increasing my strength so I can have the best of both. On a more fitness note, it was Zorena who inspired me and continually supports me to be better in myself. Watching her transformation from the beginning to on stage and how much commitment she had to persist with the diet, training programme and everything else, I just wish I could have half of that! I'm trying my best with the plans she's given me, but as much as I try, I know there is no way I'll ever be able to stay as strong willed and be that strict with myself to get to the level she did.

Hannah

Dancing has always been a passion for me in many variations but I used to teach freestyle and hip hop heavily influenced by some of my favourite films such as dirty dancing and save the last dance. As I progressed I wanted to find a new style of dance that I was able to challenge myself and showcase once again. Once at SAAS I found that I had found my new challenge in Pole. I struggled to build strength and stamina in probably the hardest form of dance I'd ever experienced. I attended my first Solent competition as a spectator and was hooked. When looking at who has inspired me I would say it was looking at all of the dancers and seeing what can actually be achieved. This was then compacted by all of the support I have from all of those at SAAS. I have watched numerous SAAS ladies compete at various levels and it is wanted to experience the same level of achievement we celebrated with them at the studio. My themes for the competitions I have entered are related to aspects of my interests. I feel I have to choose something I can really get into character with. I am always looking for new ideas and will often change my mind a few times!

Emily

What inspires me? I’ve looked at that question a few times now, and started typing a couple of responses... It’s a hard question to answer!I would say that it’s only recently that I’ve been inspired at all when it comes to pole and hoop. It’s only since coming to SAAS that I have started really looking at what I want to achieve with all this stuff and it’s only since being convinced to compete last year that I have started seeing routines when I hear songs or seeing all TV/movies as potential theme ideas! I like a lot of twisted/pseudo scary TV programs like American Horror Story and Buffy (I’d love to do a Buffy themed routine! Not sure I’d be allowed though…) and I like a lot of dark music, lots of rock and that kind of thing. In terms of pole-based aspirations I would say that I look a lot to the more twisty contortion stuff rather than the pretty, sexy or strong stuff. I like being able to get into freaky places and I love getting a move that is totally messed up!I know that it’s a cliché to say that I am inspired by my teachers but they really are the ones who inspire and encourage me to perform and progress. If I think back to when I first started doing pole, I would look at the moves that Helen (my first pole instructor) could do and be completely blown away with how easy she made it look! Then I had that wow moment all over again after a couple of years break when I started Zorena’s classes, even after a couple of years I still find that when she performs or even practises she has my attention and the attention of the whole room, which is definitely something to aspire to achieve for anyone who is competing. And even though she wouldn’t like to admit it, the same happens with Lauren when she is on the hoop. They both get into a zone and everyone in the room just stops and watches. HA! I promised myself that I wouldn’t go off on a smooshy tangent and hey look at that I did! MOVING ON....I like to see improvement and progression and a lot of the things that I am motivated by are progression pictures, whether it is flexibility, strength, weight... I often find myself going off on Instagram journeys through progress pictures. I like to make my own as well, putting old pictures up against new ones to show where I have come from. I also like to look at the more bizarre pole and hoop pictures, the artsy images of old school circus freakshow type stuff.

Lexi

There wasn’t really any inspiration for me when starting pole and hoop, it just looked like a really fun way to get fit (which it is!), and I never really had any high expectations of myself. Since then though I’ve gained huge amounts of inspiration and motivation from the instructors (Zorena, Lauren and Julie) and other students at SAAS. Seeing people work hard and make progress really drives you to be better. You start to learn that the things that look impossible aren’t really, with the right support and training.

I also get inspiration from various YouTube videos and Facebook pages. The People are Awesome page really stands out; it’s full of people doing really cool things and a lot of them are strength and flexibility based. Climbing and acrobatics feature regularly and they really make me think “I want to do that!”

One thing that really drives me to get better at hoop is wanting to do some slightly off-the-wall routines to some music I really love. At the moment, I feel compelled to stay at the cheesy end of the scale music-wise because the big, dancey tracks work well with beginner moves; but, eventually, it would be cool to do some more arty routines. I listen to a lot of more experimental rock and electronic music and it's a big part of my life. So it would be great to do a routine to something a bit like this:https://youtu.be/h-li3KlTtTA. We'll see!